Why Do We Apologize In Badminton?

AlanY said:
i heard it more than once from an english commentator (gillian clark) when she was in china and trained with the chinese team. they spent hours and hours to perfect the net cord shots. hard to believe but i have no reason to doubt her either. so, it's not just simply luck.
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Well, it depends on the shot.

If you get a net cord when you hit a smash, then it's just luck. I don't believe any player in the world is capable of doing that deliberately (not without throwing away a lot of points for nothing, anyway...;)).

If you get a net cord from a shot played very near the net, however, then sometimes it's not just luck. When I'm able to hit the shuttle at net height, only a few inches away from the net, with myself in a balanced position, then I aim for the very top of the cord or just above. I get a lot of net cords that way, but rarely make an error.

That's what the commentators mean when they say, "he made his own luck": the player got there early, on balance, and was able to play his shot from very near the net. In that situation, he has a decent chance of getting a net cord (perhaps 20%, in a good position. Sometimes it can be more).
 
Unlike other sports, badminton is a peaceful sport played by peaceful players.
Badminton requires skill, not luck. So if you win by luck, then it is kind of unfair for your opponent as he/she just got unlucky. Apologizing is normal, especially when you hit the net tape & win a net cord. ;)
 
I believe some tennis players do apologize for net cords too.

I think it's just polite to do so, instead of doing a battle cry like "YEEEAAAAHHHH..... IN YOUR FACE!!!!"
 
We apologize because Badminton is played by gentle men.When I smash hard on the opponent's body really I feel happy but immeadiately after the hit I say "sorry".Similarly when the opponent makes a good move and scores a point even if we feel sad, we will say "beauty" or some thing like that.The game Badminton lies on the upper strata of the diagrame of games.These things play a good role in keeping the game in the upper strata.
 
I'm seeing some things in the responses that I want to put back to the group. First, everyone seems to agree that if it ever hits the net and drops over, when we hit it with some speed, it's lucky. It seems that no one thinks we could ever practice to be good at doing that shot.

Also, on the note that we apologize because of our good fortune, because it meant the other person didn't have a fair chance to play the shot, or that we didn't deserve it, or intend to do it, it still is different than other sports. If I score a goal in another sport because it goes off a player's skate or leg or whatever, we still don't see apologies.

I can see hockey being the best example, because there are games where the winning team got all their goals because of good bounces, the puck accidentally going in, but not because of any skill on part of the team. No one apologizes.

So it seems like it has as much to do with the manners of the people that take up badminton, as anything else. But I'm surprised that we all suggest that we are not trying to do it on purpose whenever it gets stopped by the net as it is going over. Has no one ever tried to do that, and maybe had it happen because they wanted it to? I know I haven't, I'm not that good. :)
 
coryprice said:
I'm seeing some things in the responses that I want to put back to the group. First, everyone seems to agree that if it ever hits the net and drops over, when we hit it with some speed, it's lucky. It seems that no one thinks we could ever practice to be good at doing that shot.

Also, on the note that we apologize because of our good fortune, because it meant the other person didn't have a fair chance to play the shot, or that we didn't deserve it, or intend to do it, it still is different than other sports. If I score a goal in another sport because it goes off a player's skate or leg or whatever, we still don't see apologies.

I can see hockey being the best example, because there are games where the winning team got all their goals because of good bounces, the puck accidentally going in, but not because of any skill on part of the team. No one apologizes.

So it seems like it has as much to do with the manners of the people that take up badminton, as anything else. But I'm surprised that we all suggest that we are not trying to do it on purpose whenever it gets stopped by the net as it is going over. Has no one ever tried to do that, and maybe had it happen because they wanted it to? I know I haven't, I'm not that good. :)
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How can your compare hockey with badminton?

First of all, in hockey, you can beat the living crap out of someone, and you only sit in a box for a good old few minutes as punishment + you don't even need to worry about apologizing or getting sued(unless you nailed someone with the stick)

North American sports rarely involved any politeness DURING the game at all, just look at American football, and hockey... if you must apologize after any luck or any roughness, you might as well build a confession room with a priest in there waiting for the players inside the stadium.:p
 
Shiryu said:
I believe some tennis players do apologize for net cords too.

I think it's just polite to do so, instead of doing a battle cry like "YEEEAAAAHHHH..... IN YOUR FACE!!!!"
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I have got to scream "IN YOUR FACE" every time I hit a net cord in my evening badminton session today!:D


Sometimes, when one of my deceptive shots actually fool my opponent(may cause them to lose balance a little bit), I apologize for that, too. Note: only during recreation games... in a tournament, I will start to scream "IN YOUR FACE" from now on. :D
 
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bananakid said:
How can your compare hockey with badminton? ...
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Well first, I compare them by talking about each of them in the same post, discussing similarities and differences... ;)

I know they're not the same, and it frustrates me that hockey remains at the level where you get a penalty for fighting, whereas in baseball, basketball, football, and I think even rugby and Australian rules football, you get thrown out and sometimes fined.

But I digress, the topic is about apologizing, not fighting. I'm just suggesting that hockey is one example, they're others too I'm sure, where you don't apologize for good luck.

Don't get me wrong. I do it all the time, and I like it when it's done to me on my opponents good fortune. But my point is, we didn't ask for the luck so why are we liable to have to be sorry. The Universe granted us the good fortune on the shot, and does the same sometimes to the opponent. I'm just saying it seems strange that we're apologizing. I do it and will continue to, but it still doesn't fit exactly in my mind that we owe the apology, or something anyhow, doesn't seem to make sense. And it doesn't go with other sports.
 
coryprice said:
Don't get me wrong. I do it all the time, and I like it when it's done to me on my opponents good fortune. But my point is, we didn't ask for the luck so why are we liable to have to be sorry. The Universe granted us the good fortune on the shot, and does the same sometimes to the opponent. I'm just saying it seems strange that we're apologizing. I do it and will continue to, but it still doesn't fit exactly in my mind that we owe the apology, or something anyhow, doesn't seem to make sense. And it doesn't go with other sports.
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we don't owe the apology. however, it doesn't hurt to apologize and it makes the world a better place.
 
kwun said:
we don't owe the apology. however, it doesn't hurt to apologize and it makes the world a better place.
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With that, Kwun, I totally agree. I can say personally I feel better when the opponent acknowledges it to me, that they got lucky.
 
Athelete1234 said:
I only apologize when I smash/netkill at somebody's body/face.
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Oh, this can maybe reveal too much :) I subscribe to the above statement.

If I smash and it is intended to hit the opponent, that is because I've decided that would bring the weakest reply. If I pound on the bird intending for it to smack the ground hard but mishit and it hits the opponent, I will apologize.

For fun, I often do try to skip the bird on the tape -- mostly straight forehand drive, drops, and smashes. This results in a higher than expected number of "tape" shots in a game. Sometimes 3 or more. This is intentional so I don't apologize for it. It's the same as I don't expect my opponent to apologize when my attempted tapes fail and falls back onto my court.
 
The truth is, I just imitated the pros. When I saw on TV Liliyana Natsir apologizing to Gail Emms for the lucky net shot, I also started apologizing for that also, even though deep inside, I smile for the lucky point I earned.

I though it was already a custom for professional players to say sorry for the luck. So, pretending to be a proffesional that I want to be, I also do the same. Hey! It's not that I didn't exert an effort to make that point. I also took a risk to keep the shuttle near above the net. And if that risk paid off, well ... lucky me. Thus, if, on the other hand, that also happens to my opponent, well ... lucky him. But I still expect him to apologize.
 
There really is no meaning in apologizing.

Haven't we seen so many net tumblers which were so unexpectably returned by the pros?? I can't fish out those matches right now, but i'm sure there were a few outrageous moments in world class badminton's net-play...:D apologizing is really for show only. I don't think your opponent feels any better with your apology either!
 
I think there are two different types of apology in Badminton. The first is the apology for an shot that works exactly as you intend, but may upset your opponent. These are primarily shots that hit your opponent. I always apologize for this even though it is usually absolutely intended to happen if my shot works correctly. (After all if you hit your opponent by definition they have failed to return the shot so you have won the point.)

Secondarily most players instinctively apologize for shots that appear to luckily win the point, it just feels like the nice thing to do. Personally I find this is most applicable to bad hits off the frame or the edges of the strings that go in an unexpected direction and win an easy point. Of course Pros don't hit like that very much, but net/tape hits at speed are usually pure luck too.
 
How Badminton has evolved over the last hundred years

coryprice said:
...... I guess I wanted to get some other people's thoughts on it...
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:D:D:D coryprice ... You have to understand how Badminton has evolved over the last hundred years.

All sports, including Badminton, started as some type of social and friendly activities for us. They are for us to enjoy in participating in them. And I am glad that many of us remain thinking so.

I am still observing some players, when they have failed to return your shots, apologising. This is because they felt that they have failed to continue a rally which was meant to last much longer, so that we could enjoy it better. :):):)

Therefore, when we play a shot that our opponents find hard to return, we apologise.

However, we are now tending to be more competitive... each trying to play shots that could cause our opponents into all sorts of trouble.

Yes, we need to understand the reasons why we play sports, including Badminton.

To some players, competition is fun. To others, competition is not good for our social interaction.

Cheers... chris-ccc
:):):)
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